Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 41 Issue 2, June 2004
27 – 37
Activities for the Middle School Math Classroom: Games Using Manipulatives
A. Craig Loewen
We have all taught students who can do mathematics yet who do not really understand that mathematics. Such students succeed with one problem or task, but if given a similar but slightly altered or camouflaged task, they are lost. They have probably focused on the routines or procedures (algorithms) associated with concepts but have not really learned the concepts themselves. It is entirely too easy for students to see mathematics as a disconnected collection of algorithms rather than a meaningful body of knowledge overflowing with connections and integrally related to life outside the classroom. Often our students are happy to learn only the algorithms (until their memories are taxed), and we lapse into the contentment of teaching to this inclination. The students’ focus on algorithms is probably related to a desire to quickly finish or avoid homework
